Teams tanking for a better lottery pick in the draft has been a popular strategy in the NBA. However, this season has seen several teams eyeing a better chance to have a top pick in the 2026 draft, one of the most anticipated and stacked drafts in recent years. This has grabbed the league’s attention, with teams deliberately playing badly to better their chances of a top-5 pick. In light of that, the NBA has proposed three anti-tanking measures to the Board of Governors.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was also caught up in a similar situation when the Milwaukee Bucks tried to shut him down for the remaining games of the regular season, even though he felt healthy to be on the court. That even led the league to share a circular against the practice. However, it seems the NBA has decided to update the structure to further demotivate teams from losing on purpose.
What are NBA’s proposed anti-tanking measures?
ESPN analyst Shams Charania shared on X the three anti-tanking concepts that the NBA has proposed to the Board of Governors, which will be put to a formal vote in May. He wrote:
“The NBA presented three comprehensive anti-tanking concepts to its Board of Governors on Wednesday, with modifications expected to each before a formal vote in May, per ESPN sources.”
The first concept shares flattened odds among the bottom ten teams (8%), and the remaining 20% goes in decreasing order to the teams from 11 through 18. In the current structure, even though the Dallas Mavericks had 1.8% chance, they got the No. 1 pick last season. However, that did not stop teams from tanking as they look for better odds, even if they fall to #5 (47.9%).
The second one suggests combining the performance of two seasons and a minimum floor as per the total games won by 22 lottery teams. If a bottom team falls out of that, it gets slotted to meet the floor. The third one, on the other hand, proposes a “5 by 5” concept, in which the bottom five teams have equal odds for the top pick. They have a floor at 10, and those who don’t receive a top 5 get slotted in another drawing.
Fans have shared mixed reactions to these concepts, as some suggested locking the standings at the trade deadline and referring to that for draft lottery picks. The analyst shared that these concepts will be tweaked further before the league adopts one of them.
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